Birmingham Botanical Gardens October lineup: Plant sale, field trips and a night of horticultural cocktails

Since the Birmingham Botanical Gardens closes at dusk, as
the days get colder and shorter you'll have slightly less time to enjoy the
free living museum. Fortunately with October's shows,
sales, trips, seminars and workshops, "enhancing life with plants" (as its
slogan goes) means more than rare shrubs and pretty flowers:

Fall Plant Sale

These plants aren't free, but at least you can take them home. The annual Fall Plant Sale gives patrons the opportunity to peruse and purchase a selection of herbs, trees, fall annuals, natives, perennials and other botanical treasures. Proceeds benefit Gardens programs such as Discovery Field Trips, Plant Adventures and the Gardens' library.

This months educational offerings include the "What's this Button Do?" photography class (with a version for kids and parents), the free but members-only "Thinking Outside the Boxwood: Creative Landscape Design" and "An Evening With: the Drunken Botanist," in which Amy Stewart shares cocktail recipes after a cocktail hour of botanical libations.

At any time during the year students can enroll in the Certificate of Native Plant Studies program to gain a more in-depth understanding of local fauna and environmental systems.

The "A Glimpse into Sustainability" two-part field trip (October 12, 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.) sends students to Spencer Farm in Marion Junction to learn sustainable crafts such as beekeeping and soap making and then to Perry Lakes Park and Barton's Beach Reserve to speak with sustainability expert Dr. Thomas Wilson.